Burchell, William John |
| EXPLORER, NATURALIST, AUTHOR, ARTIST (ENGLAND) |
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BORN 23 Jul 1781, London: Fulham - DIED 23 Mar 1863, London: Churchfield House, Fulham CAUSE OF DEATH suicide by hanging GRAVE LOCATION London: All Saints Churchyard, Putney Bridge Approach, Fulham |
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William John Burchell was the son of Matthew Burchell, a botanist, and the owner of Fulham Nursery. His father owned a large amount of land adjacent to the gardens of Fulham Palace. William was educated in Mitcham and was trained as a botanist at Kew Gardens. James Mérigot (1760-1824) and John Claude Nattes (c1765-1839) gave him drawing lessons. In 1803 Burchell he was elected a Fellow of the Linnaen Society. On 7 August 1805 he boarded the Northumberland to sail to St. Helena. There he arrived on 13 December 1805, and he set up as a merchant with a partner from London, William Balcombe (b.1777). After a year Burchell did not want to continue the partnership and he became a schoolmaster and then the official botanist of the island. His fiancée travelled to him in St. Helene to join him, but she fell in love with the captain of the boat on which she travelled. This may have prompted him to leave for Cape of Good Hope in 1810. In June 1811 he started his travels in South Africa that lasted until 1815. He collected over 60,000 specimens and made 500 drawings before he left for England. He spent four years classifying his specimens and in 1819 he retired to Sevenoaks to write down his experiences from his journals. He published them in "Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa" (1822/1824, two volumes). In 1820 he left for Brazil. There he travelled until 1825 and collected another huge set of specimens, including an enormous collection of insects. He was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Exford, but his work was never widely recognised. He died in 1863 by hanging himself in a small house in his garden in Fulham, after failing to kill himself by shooting. His sister Anne Burchell donated most of his collections to Kew Gardens. His entomological collection went to Oxford University Museum. |
| Images |
 The grave of Matthew Burchell and William John Burchell (the standing stone on the left) at All Saints Churchyard, Fulham, London. Picture by Androom (15 Apr 2024) |
Sources • William John Burchell - Wikipedia (EN) • William Burchell and St Helena | The Garden History Blog • Naturalist William John Burchell | Kariega Game Reserve |
